Of all the possible fusion genres possible for a movie one that has
incredible potential is the blending of science fiction and horror. Going back
to the thirties ‘Frankenstein’ merged these two popular types of movies with a
result that was considered shocking at the time. The usual template for this
kind of story is to take the prevalent fear that has a grip on the collective
consciousness of the society and tweak it to an extreme using Sci-Fi as a
foundation. In the fifties ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ to the McCarthy era
fright over communist taken creating a science fiction classic. Then the
predominant fear was radiation. Once the nuclear genie was out of the bottle
atomic energy became the symbol of s bright future and dreaded as the means to
destroy the world and mutate our bodies to hideous monsters through radiation.
Currently the subject of great concern in our culture is the incredible advances
in the field of genetics. Like the other forms of technology that held this
cinematic position previously genetic progress holds amazing promise to ease
suffering and make for a longer more enjoyable life. Of course a warm and fuzzy
prognosis is not conducive to creating as good horror flick so most film makers
tend to concentrate on the worst case scenario. Of course there is a long way
between insect and disease resistant crops and human-animal hybrids of creating
completely new sentient species but the thing about irrational fear; it is
extremely potent and by definition does not need a fully verifiable basis it
just has to be scary. One of the most recent examples of this venerable
methodology is a solid piece of entertainment; ‘Splice’. It is a movie with some
technical flaws both in the science and the cinematic presentation but
considering the vast majority of horror flicks are now either training films for
the next Inquisition of satires of the genre. Slash and dash movie featuring
copious quantities of blood, guts and the ever popular gratuitous nudity have
all but destroyed the genre. Sure all these elements are in Splice’ but it is
not the sole focus of the movie. Unlike most horror films around today this film
has an actual plot; a story that fosters character development within an
interesting set of circumstances.
The first thing that sets this movie above the pack is the script written by
Antoinette Terry Bryant and Vincenzo Natali. This is an initial opus for Bryant
but Natali has some interesting films as both writer and director. One of the
most notable is the 1997 cult classic, ‘Cube’, the original not the less than
memorable sequels. That film was a great little experiment in terror based on
the innate human fear of isolation and abdication of control. In Cube he
examined the duality of human nature; self serving versus altruistic with
‘Splice’ Natali goes off on a different tact in his examination of some other
aspects of what is means to be human. This is the essence of the horror here and
an important factor to the workings of the film. It has long been a function of
science fiction to hold a dark mirror up to society using robots, aliens and
other creatures to reflect the foibles of humanity. We get to see ourselves in
such a manner that it appears to be light entertainment but actually a point is
being made on a much grander scale. One of the most powerful driving forces
among most animals is the maternal instinct. The compulsion to protect and
nourish offspring in order to ensure the continuation of the species can
overwhelm even the natural instinct of self preservation. In this film a pair of
genetic researchers Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley)
become surrogate parents to the end product of an illegal and highly dangerous
experiment; a humanoid creature the name Dren (Delphine Chanéac). In a fashion
similar to the lamentable Dr. Frankenstein Nicoli and Kast find they have played
god by splice numerous strands of DNA together throwing part of the human genome
into the mix. Initially the creature is a bit of a blob but soon, very soon, it
grows increasingly human in appearance until it has the form of a beautiful
woman albeit with a stinger tail and wings. The researchers become increasingly
attached to Dren especially Kast who manifests a strong maternal attachment to
it.
The role of the antagonist is interesting. It really isn’t the scientist
although they are guilty of hubris, the pharmaceutical company funding the
research should have instituted tighter oversight but then there wouldn’t be s
movie. As in the case with all movies of this sub-genre the real villain is the
misapplication of potentially beneficial new technology. The researcher just
wanted to push the frontier of their field but in order to do so they flagrantly
disregarded the checks and safeguards in place to avoid a mishap. The film works
as a horror film because of the real world possibility of a genetic mishap. It
is far more likely than some supernatural serial killer taking over your dreams
and even if this level is not reached there is a nagging feeling in the back of
your mind throughout the film that perhaps this could happen. The capping
feature of the film lifting it above the soon to be dismembered teens cavorting
in the woods is the cast. Brody is an Academy Award winner and Polley has an
extremely successful career in independent films. Together they bring
performances to these films that are far above the genre’s norm.
A Director's Playground: Vincenzo Natali On The Set Of Splice - Zoom
In On The Innovative Filmmaker Of The Global Cult Sensation Cube As He
And His Creative Team Explore New Motivating Territory
Posted 10/05/2010